Death Becomes Her
by firefly81
Summary: Sitting in the darkened library, she wonders where it all went wrong.


It was mostly dark in the library; the only light coming from two lit fireplaces. The low light created shadows that danced along the walls and the dark mahogany bookcases. The room was her favorite in the house, not that that would be a surprise to anyone. What might be come as a surprise, however, is that she sat curled up in a chair, facing the fire, with no book in sight. Instead, she sat silently staring at the fire, tears rolling down her face. Her face told a story of despair: a red and blotchy face, a downturned mouth, and an utterly bleak look in her eyes. She wondered how it all went wrong as her hands came up to gently rub her protruding stomach. She wondered how she allowed her sanctuary, the only place she had ever felt safe, to become her prison.

It started with the offensive marriage law. She fought it relentlessly, especially after finding herself matched to Draco Malfoy. He had to be about the last person on Earth she wanted to marry, only his father and Voldemort coming before him. Her only option to circumvent the law was to break her wand and live her life as a Muggle with absolutely no contact with the Wizarding world. She was about to do it, but Harry interfered. He _begged_ her not to do it, said he wasn't sure he could live without her in his life, _swore_ that Malfoy wasn't the same prick he was in school.

Ha.

The marriage had started off okay. It wasn't perfect by any means, but Malfoy was fairly civil. But then, something happened, something changed. She got pregnant. She was secretly thrilled as she had always wanted children, although she certainly never imagined Malfoy as the father. When she told him the news, he sneered at her and told her how happy he was that he no longer had to sully himself to sleep with her. He kept her a virtual prisoner for fear she would lose the baby. She was allowed in only three rooms: the dining room, her bedroom, and the library. And so her most beloved space became one of her most hated. To make it worse, Malfoy was ignoring her and she rarely saw him. This normally wouldn't have bothered her, but that meant she had to deal with Lucius instead. No longer was Malfoy there to provide some sort of barrier between her and his father.

This is how she came to be sitting in the library, in the dead of night. Her wand was still in her possession, thankfully, but the wards on the Manor prevented her from using it to Apparate. Nor could she Floo. The thought of sending Harry a Patronus occurred to her a few months ago and while she was able to conjure one, she could not make it leave the Manor with a message. If only she still had her DA galleon. The creak of the library door opening roused her from her thoughts.

"Malfoys do not sit around crying in the middle of the night."

"Well, you do always tell me I'm not a proper Malfoy, so what do you care?"

"Ah, but yet you still carry the name. Get yourself to bed, girl. You need rest while you are carrying my grandson."

"Oh, you mean your half-blood grandson? That must really burn you, knowing I am going to give birth to the next Malfoy heir."

Lucius snarled and strode right up to her. Grabbing her by the arm, he hauled her off the chair and pulled her close, her stomach pushing into his. She glared at him defiantly while trying to break from his grasp.

"If it wouldn't be so troublesome, I'd kill you and the brat right now."

"Why, Lucius, one would think you didn't like me," she pouted. She tried again to wrench her arm away from him, only to have him let go at the same time, causing her to fall. As she hit the ground hard, her hands immediately flying to her stomach.

"Get off the floor, girl. At least try to pretend you aren't the filth you are."

"Oh, why don't you go fu-," she cut off with a loud gasp. All she felt was pain ripping through her midsection. She thought for a minute that Lucius was Crucio-ing her, but quickly realized that was not the case. Wetness was quickly spreading between her legs. Lifting her nightgown slightly, she touched her leg, only to be horrified when she saw her fingers covered in blood. Looking at Lucius, she noticed that he looked a little nervous and he flinched as she let out a scream and a second wave of pain hit her.

"You bastard! Look at what you've done!" she sobbed. She lost all reasoning then and took her wand from her thigh holster.

"What do you think you are going to do with that? You can't leave. In fact, I think I just found the perfect solution to my problem. I'll just leave you in here, alone. By the time my wife is wondering where you are, it will be too late. For both of you."

The rage that consumed her at his words was unlike anything she had ever felt before. She looked straight at his smug face, raised her wand, and said the two words that could rid her of at least one of her problems.

"Avada Kedavra."

* * *

><p>Written for the ClueCluedo Game Challenge

Cards Used:

Suspect: Hermione Granger

Weapon: Avada Kedavra

Location: Library

Special thanks to erbkaiser for being an awesome beta!


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